Former Ryan aides indicted

Federal prosecutors on Tuesday dropped the long-awaited other shoe in the license-for-bribes scandal, indicting Gov. George Ryan's political campaign committee and two of its former top officials for allegedly engaging in a "pattern of fraud and corruption," while working for Gov. Ryan when he was secretary of state and a candidate for governor.

Federal prosecutors on Tuesday dropped the long-awaited other shoe in the license-for-bribes scandal, indicting Gov. George Ryan's political campaign committee and two of its former top officials for allegedly engaging in a "pattern of fraud and corruption," while working for Gov. Ryan when he was secretary of state and a candidate for governor.

Named are Scott Fawell, Mr. Ryan's longtime top political aide and currently CEO of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, and Richard Juliano, former deputy chief of staff for Gov. Ryan, who had been working at the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Mr. Fawell, along with the campaign committee Citizens for George Ryan, are charged with racketeering, mail fraud and conspiracy to obstruct justice in a 10-count indictment returned Tuesday by a federal grand jury. The events at issue occurred between 1991 and 1999, when Gov. Ryan was Illinois secretary of state.

Mr. Fawell also is charged with theft of government funds, perjury before a federal grand jury and filing false federal income tax returns. Mr. Juliano was charged with one count of mail fraud.

The indictment alleges that the two men and unknown others conspired to illegally use public resources and personnel for political activities, exchanged "official acts" for campaign donations and attempted to cover up those activities.

Scott FawellMr. Fawell, 44, of suburban St. Charles, worked as Gov. Ryan's campaign manager in 1998 before being appointed to the McPier post. Mr. Fawell's attorney, Edward M. Genson, said his client intends to plead not guilty to all the charges. "Mr. Fawell has always tried his best to be a good public servant" and "has committed no crime," Mr. Genson said in a statement.

Richard JulianoMr. Juliano, 34, of suburban Washington, D.C., has agreed to cooperate in the continuing investigation and will plead guilty to the mail fraud count, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said. Mr. Juliano resigned last week from his position as White House liaison for the federal transportation department, Mr. Fitzgerald said.

Mr. Juliano was not available for comment.

While the new charges do not allege that anyone actually sold a commercial driver's license in exchange for campaign donations, Mr. Fitzgerald said the alleged activity was pervasive and serious.

Under Mr. Fawell's direction, state workers routinely engaged in political activities while on government time and were pressured to sell tickets to campaign events, Mr. Fitzgerald said. In one instance, a phony job was created for a vendor who agreed to give $100,000, he said, with Mr. Fawell later receiving heavily subsidized vacations to Costa Rica and Canada from that vendor.

When Mr. Fawell heard reports of selling licenses, he terminated an internal office investigation into the matter and ordered the secretary of state investigator on the case terminated, too, Mr. Fitzgerald said. Numerous files and records later allegedly were destroyed despite the then-ongoing federal probe.

The indictment of Mr. Ryan's campaign organization apparently is the third ever by federal prosecutors of any campaign group, the others being the committees of former President Richard Nixon and ex-presidential hopeful Lyndon LaRouche, Mr. Fitzgerald said.

Prosecutors want the campaign committee to forfeit roughly $1 million in funds obtained from the scheme--but said they will settle for the title to Mr. Fawell's house as a substitute if need be.

Wednesday's charges have been rumored for more than two years, and likely will play a role in the upcoming gubernatorial election.

Democratic nominee Rod Blagojevich released a statement asking GOP nominee Jim Ryan, the attorney general, to detail what he knew about improprieties in the governor's fund-raising apparatus, and to return $38,000 in donations he received from Mr. Ryan's committee since 1991.

Mr. Ryan's spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

Nearly two dozen state workers and numerous commercial driving school employees already have been charged in the matter.

Mr. Fitzgerald would not comment in any way on Gov. Ryan's involvement in the continuing federal probe, but among those already sentenced in the case is Mr. Ryan's one-time inspector general, Dean Bauer.

Mr. Bauer's indictment rose out of the corruption probe prompted by a 1994 crash on a Wisconsin expressway that killed a Chicago couple's six children. The truck driver who caused the accident allegedly purchased his license from a southwest suburban driver's license facility.

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Mr. Bauer was broadly accused of covering up allegations of wrongdoing raised by an office employee shortly before the 1998 gubernatorial primary "to provide political advantage" for Mr. Ryan.